Beware the Batman: Hunger Challenge
by MightyNo8409
Summary: A commission from Deviantart where Katana, Magpie, and Lady Shiva are hungry, and it's up to the Dark Knight to uncover the cause [Hunger Fiction]


**Author's Note: I wish it be put down, for the record, that I was paid to write this fanfic by someone who responded to my offer on DeviantArt to write for commissions. The gist was for it to be a fanfiction of Beware the Batman where the three main ladies, Katana, Magpie, and Lady Shiva, were constantly hungry throughout the story. The commissioner also wanted this hunger to be featured in the story a certain way every 3-5 sentences. For $50, he got 5000 words, plus I have a small thing going on where the first 1000 words are free, so the end product was a 6000 word fanfiction on hunger. Considering how I had to come up with a way to meet his requirements every 3-5 sentences without compromising what little pride I have as a writer, I was, in a word, happy when I was finally done with this challenge.**

**But yeah, bottom line, this ain't one of my kinks: I did it for some extra green. Rated M for safety.**

* * *

Gotham City rarely ever enjoyed a peaceful night, and tonight was no exemption from the usual disturbances that plagued the civilians. The latest disturbance plaguing the city was another late-night shopping, all five-finger discount sales, by the one and only Margaret Sorrow, known better to both law enforcement and the criminal underground as the psychotic Magpie. Unlike her usual scores, which consisted of Magpie stealing the shiniest thing in her field of vision, her efforts that night were to silence and sooth the pain that had recently begun to plague her every waking moment. For those that had either the misfortune or the displeasure of having a first-hand account of the violent woman, many would recall with crystal clarity the woman's immunity to nearly every form of physical pain known to man.

However, for the past few nights, many individuals who encountered the kleptomaniac noted the unruly sounds emanating from her stomach, which apparently caused more than a fair share of discomfort for the woman, as one of her hands were almost always present on her belly, trying in vain to rub the pain away, as she expressed her desire for sustenance in some of the most colorful words and expressions the English language had to offer, including, but not limited to, "I swear, if I don't get rid of this hunger in the next 5 seconds, the next buffoon I see will experience what it's like as I tear the food out of their belly and then strap them to a table with no food for a week! Then they'll understand what it's like, when their stomach feels so empty that every sound it makes causes agony that echoes through the rest of your body, which makes it all the worst when it DOESN'T STOP GROWLING!"

While Magpie was less than her usually subtle self, the city's number one vigilante, Batman, had other concerns at the moment, mainly the League of Assassins, and their current commander, Lady Shiva. The League was not something to take lightly, and earning their ire was almost definitely a death sentence for anyone crazy or foolish enough to exchange fists with.

Thankfully, Bruce Wayne was not crazy or foolish, despite his choice of lifestyle being to dress up as a bat and fight against criminals that infested Gotham City.

The standard grunts were easy enough to overpower, and were no more dangerous than a common housefly, but Lady Shiva certainly lived up to her title as the commander of the League, and unfortunately for Batman, she was not in her usual mood, which was usually anywhere between amused and bored, depending on the current matter at hand. The source of both her extreme discomfort was easy enough to determine: one hand constantly placed on her lower abdomen, constant growling noises coming from the very spot she was either rubbing or petting, and the constant carping from the woman, ranging from "This abominable hunger will not stop me from defeating you" to "GAAARGH, I'LL KILL YOU AND THE NEXT FOOL WHO STANDS IN MY WAY UNTI THIS BLASTED CRAVING FOR FOOD CAN BE SATISFIED!" clearly proved the woman's affliction was a rather painful appetite that had yet to subside in the least, and judging from her reaction as she said, and Bruce would quote, "be willing to give cannibalism a try if their fight didn't conclude shortly," it was definitely in the Dark Knight's best interest to settle the fight as quickly as possible.

While her attacks were much less refined than Batman was used to in his previous encountered with the femme fatal, they were no less painful whenever they connected, and only years of dedicating himself to proper fighting techniques kept Bruce from completely breaking at some of her better blows. Still, her focus and concentration were definitely not as pristine as he had come to relate to her with their usual exchanges, and Batman certainly didn't fail to capitalize with every flawed move or motion the woman made in an attempt to simply pummel through Batman as quickly as possible. Let it not be said that Lady Shiva was not capable of taking punishment as well as she dished it out: over fifteen minutes of continual hand-to-hand combat had certainly left their marks on both the bat and the assassin, but both were trained very well to tough out some of the worst injuries they'd suffered in the continuous exchanges the occurred since the fists first started flying. At this point Bruce would admit he definitely could have used Katana's assistance in the matter, although with the rather similar affliction she suffered with Lady Shiva, he had immediately labeled her a liability he simply did not need tonight.

Back at Wayne Manor, lying on the floor of her room, Tatsu Yamashiro was curled into a ball, both arms compressing against her stomach as she fought against the painful noise that rarely ceased for longer than a few seconds, all the while pitifully muttering "So hungry… I swear I could start eating the plans in the manor, even if they are just plastic," under her breath, afraid that saying it any louder would make the experience more painful than it currently was.

Back at the Gotham City Eastern Airport, the Dark Knight was still engaged in a brutal fight against Lady Shiva, who despite the handicap, easily remained as one of the most dangerous villains Batman has ever engaged in combat. Still, he could not afford to let her get away this time, because if she managed to get aboard the airplane and reach whatever destination warranted her immediate attention, there was little to no guarantee that either he or Katana would be able to follow the trail before it got cold.

Eventually, Shiva simply could not keep fighting on even grounds with her opponent, and her ninja henchmen, the ones not out cold anyway, tossed their smoke bombs in the vicinity, clouding Batman's vision and allowing them to rescue their mistress from any further injury by fleeing the scene. Despite the rather painful injuries, however, Lady Shiva's focus remained on one simple thing.

"The first one of you to fetch me something to fill my empty stomach with be the only one of you I spare from the punishment I have planned for you regarding your actions just now in regards to my fight with the Batman," she threatened, which was still as potent and threatening as she usually was, even as she tried to coax her stomach to be silent by massaging it as best she could, considering the various pains that just about any major movement brought on, courtesy of the rather heated brawl with the caped crusader.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of Gotham, Magpie's unusual (well, more unusual than what one normally expects from the kleptomaniac) crime spree continued as though the woman were being chased by the devil himself. One of the more unusual aspects of the crime scenes police would discover is the increasingly savage and borderline feral quality AND quantity of bite marks, and more than a few miscellaneous items that actually looked like she managed to take a bite out of, before spitting it out, apparently ignorant of what was truly edible until she tried to chew and/or swallow it.

There were even a few crime scenes where someone, usually some would-be thief or hoodlum that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, was freaking out about a "psycho chick wearing feathers" who tried to take a bite out of them, although most of the bite marks the medics checked out were superficial and didn't seem to break the skin. Lieutenant Gordon would hardly consider himself qualified as a psychiatric expert, but he did have more than a few passing experiences with many of Gotham's more mentally and emotionally disturbed individuals, and his best guess was that Magpie's current affliction, coupled with her dissociative identity disorder, may have induced another "personality" with the likeness of a starving, feral animal wanting to sick its teeth into anything it can get its jaws into. It didn't take much to prove his hypothesis, because Magpie soon dragged herself out of the shadows like a zombie from a bad horror movie, only with a constant sound from her stomach that seemed to drown out every sound around it and make Gordon cringe in pain just hearing it as she attempted to sooth it with her hand in a circular motion, all the while whispering, "Soon, my sweet, and we will be filled to our hearts content. You will not suffer for much longer, so please be patient for a few more minutes. The perfect appetizer is right in front of us…" she almost hissed out, before lunging at the lieutenant with a savage look splashed across her face

The only thing that stopped Margaret Sorrow from burying her teeth into the officer of the law was the rather timely and unexpected arrival of Batman's sidekick/partner, Katana, who's kick connected with the side of Magpie's head and launched her into a pile of garbage that promptly collapsed on top of the woman, burying her in some of the worst smelling garbage either woman would have the displeasure of smelling.

It took little effort on Katana's part to convince Gordon to leave the area and come back with reinforcements. As soon and Gordon was out of sight, Katana dropped whatever illusion of composure she was able to muster as she fell to her knees, patting her stomach as it resumed its chorus that demanded food, and it was only by clenching her teeth that Katana was able to choke out her next few words.

"Ugh, my stomach feels like it's trying to crush me from the inside out…"

Before Katana could regain any sense of composure, the sounds of garbage bags filled with all manner of trash being shoved and tossed aside drew her attention, as Magpie clawed her way out of the pile of junk she had landed in, with a livid scowl that distorted her usually attractive face into something that barely resembled anything human.

With a deep, guttural sound more likened to the sound of a bear roaring than a human shouting, Magpie bellowed in rage at Katana, before she quickly covered the distance between the two faster than one would expect, even to the well trained senses of Tatsu Yamashiro, and despite her rather small frame, the force of Magpie's full body tackle felt like getting hit head on by a car to Katana.

Katana had little to no time to recover, as soon she was picked up by the feral woman, who proceeded to run through whatever she could bulldoze through using Tatsu's body as a shield/battering ram. Eventually, Magpie and Katana collided with an object too strong and sturdy to bend to the force of two people colliding against it, although the impact had certainly left an imprint that would be hard to miss. Before losing consciousness from the pain, Tatsu's hands once again focused on her stomach, desperately massaging it as it protested to her about its desire for food, seemingly oblivious to the rest of her body's pain and discomfort.

"To think, I probably have multiple broken and fractured bones, and yet, I'm more focused on the biting, tearing pain in my stomach more than everything else…"

Tatsu could only weakly chuckle to herself as the last traces of consciousness started to fade away.

* * *

Hours later, Batman was no closer to finding the wayward Magpie, who moments after incapacitating Katana, left a message behind addressed for him, although it was Gordon who found the message and made sure the other officers were oblivious to it, lest they interfere with whatever the seemingly rabid woman had in mind.

The computer in the Bat Cave offered no useful information in regards to Katana's location, or the current state of mind of Margaret's further mental decay. Bruce briefly entertained the notion that whatever was going on with Magpie was also happening to Lady Shiva, although there was no information presently to confirm the validity of that line of thought one way or another. Still, he couldn't help but notice how odd it was for three of the strongest women in Gotham to suddenly come down with a rather bizarre case of hunger pains and increased hostility that followed the longer that particular woman seemed to suffer.

Even though she was unconscious in Magpie's video message, Katana showed many of the symptoms Lady Shiva seemed to display during their fight: a rather loud, almost snarl like sound constantly emitting from her stomach and a desperate attempt to quell both the noise and the pains by rubbing her stomach, which was emphasized as she murmured to herself about her pain, saying things like, "so hungry," "It hurts so much," "I feel like I'm dying," and several other similarly worded statements, which were harder to make out as Magpie continued to get far more hostile and aggressive with her threats in the message.

Unfortunately, Lady Shiva was not quite done for the night, as Batman picked up a message on police scanners where several officers reported a woman matching the commander of the League of Assassin's description, behaving in an eerily similar manner as Magpie had up until a few hours ago, including the rather bizarre behavior of trying to take a bite out of just about anything and everything except actual food.

Batman wasted no time heading to Lady Shiva's location with the hope of uncovering whatever strange affliction affected three of the most notable women in Gotham City and treat it before it became a city-wide pandemic.

After making it to the scene, Batman took note of the various bodies tossed around the area like trash in a trailer park and thankfully, none of them were civilians or police officers, but it did give Bruce a moment to pause and he wondered if Lady Shiva's men had any idea of what it was that caused their leader to go on a feral rampage fueled by an unexplainable hunger. He didn't get a chance to find out though, since Lady Shiva swung out at him and forced him to move out of the way before his head was caught between her first and a brick wall, especially after seeing how her first broke through the brick wall as if it were cardboard.

As she tugged her arm out of the collapsed rubble of the brick wall, her other arm was wrapped around her abdomen, which made even more sickening and painful noises as she tried to ignore and treat it by caressing her hand against the spot it hurt the worst at, although her words clearly conveyed how much pain she was in as she practically growled out, "I'm absolutely starving Batman. I feel like every muscle in my body is screaming out in agony as it tries to burn through anything it can as nourishment to keep me moving. And the voice! It tells me my pain will be over when I end you, so stay there and LET ME DESTROY YOU!"

Much like the battle he fought with her earlier that night, Lady Shiva struck with significantly less grace and finesse that he commonly connected with her fighting style, although the first time was more likened to a mild rage, while the Lady Shiva he was fighting now seemed absolutely livid, and anything that had the misfortune of connecting with her punches and kicks twisted and contorted in ways unimaginable by normal standards, as metal folded and ripped apart like tissue paper, and solid rock practically turned to sand and gravel at her slightest touch.

Despite the increase in strength, it was far easier for Bruce to predict and respond to her movements, and he was able to land some effective counters against her, especially when he made it a point to capitalize on the pain in her stomach, which seemed to be one gigantic sore spot that caused of most visible reaction out of the woman tonight. Shiva could do little more than respond ferociously, but sluggishly in response to the crippling blows, although with every major blow in her weak spot, the harder it was to recover both in speed and stamina, and it became all but impossible to keep up as the windows of opportunity became so great and numerous that Batman was able to land blow after blow on her tender stomach, leaving her with no chance to counterattack.

Finally, the damage became too much, and even in her frenzied state, Shiva was unable to move and respond, holding her stomach as it groaned in pain from both the severe physical abuse dealt to it, and the immense hunger that continued to go unanswered, which she attempted to quell by rubbing it. The last words to leave Lady Shiva's mouth before she passed out were, "It hurts…so much… so… hungryyy…" One final whimper escaped the woman before she blacked out.

Against the usual protocols set in place, Batman brought Lady Shiva to the Bat Cave, under heavy sedation, of course, in an effort to hopefully identify, isolate, and treat whatever it was that so far only affected three individuals in Gotham City. Unfortunately, while he was able to identify many abnormalities in Lady Shiva's blood work and saliva samples, he had yet to find the key component of whatever chemical agent Katana, Magpie, and Lady Shiva had been exposed to that triggered their current conditions.

Thankfully, Alfred was able to pull through while he handled Lady Shiva, and was able to determine where Magpie recorded the message. With any luck, Magpie either left a trail to where she had hidden Katana, or they would remain where they were: the abandoned Gotham Opera Theater on the west side of the city.

After taking a few more blood samples from Lady Shiva, still rubbing at the spot on her mid-section where the loud cries of her stomach seemed to be origination from, all the while whimpering, "please…so hungry…" even as she remained unconscious.

* * *

Meanwhile, Katana was finally beginning to regain consciousness, although she was still more than moderately sore and in pain, even before Magpie decided to use her body as part of her impersonation of what a bulldozer could do if it moved as fast as a charging bull.

After taking a few moments to wait for the fog in her head to dissipate, Tatsu attempted to analyze her surroundings for any landmark or details that would help her narrow down her location, and hopefully provide any crucial information that would aid her in escaping or, barring that, a way to signal out to either Bruce or Alfred on her location. It would be worth noting that Magpie was nowhere to be found, which intimidated Katana almost as much as the rather disturbing behavior the woman had displayed prior to knocking her lights out.

Another thing worth noting was the presence of Professor Pyg and his little green associate, Mr. Toad, although at first Tatsu had shrugged off their appearance as a small effect of the concussion she acquired when being used as a battering ram through whatever Magpie could break through. Katana had no time to ponder what the appearance of Pyg and Toad meant, however, for the pain that had been her worst enemy tonight returned in full force, and it was all she could do to not completely passed out as she used both her hands to massage her belly, failing to silence the horrid noises that seemed to overpower every other sound in the room, desperately whimpering about the painful hunger that simply got worse with every passing minute.

"I say, miss Katana, you seem to be in an awful amount of pain on this fine evening," Professor Pyg said, the air in his voice thick with his accent, along with that mockery of sophistication he commonly attempted to present.

The little miscreant as his side simply giggled to himself with that wide grin only someone with the face of a frog could pull off, although that did little to make it any less creepy or disturbing, even if it was already established that both he and his boss were not quite right in the head.

"Now I suppose you're probably wondering why you are here, and perhaps my involvement with little Margaret Sorrow?" Pyg inquired.

With his only response being a hostile glare thrown at him, Pyg merely chuckled to himself before resuming, "To be quite blunt, I am the one responsible for her condition, which has so far yielded some interesting symptoms, although thankfully, this presents no significant complication to what I ultimately have in mind for the Batman."

Almost on cue, Tatsu's gut responded with the most horrific sounding gurgle yet, and the pain written on her face as she tried in vain to aggressively massage the pain out of her stomach with both hands spoke of just how agonizing it was for her, even if her spouting out, "it feels like glass is cutting my innards out" didn't paint a rather vivid picture.

"Well for now, miss Katana, I hope you'll excuse me, but I absolutely MUST prepare for when your fellow crime fighter arrives with our third test subject in his custody."

With that, both Professor Pyg and Mr Toad left Katana in the room unattended, confident that she was not likely to escape in the condition she was in.

Having just arrived at the site, Batman then proceeded to lock down the Batmobile in order to keep Lady Shiva trapped inside, should she manage to regain consciousness. For the moment, however, his primary concern was Magpie, especially if her condition served as a prelude to what he should expect from both Lady Shiva and Katana if they remained untreated for whatever affliction ailed them.

What he hadn't expected though, was the sudden arrival of one green skinned mutant literally hopping in front him and getting hit with a full forced blast of Mr Toad's concussive, belch-like scream that struck him with enough force to launch him several yards through a rather thick wall made of bricks, although Bruce was able to quickly recover before Mr Toad could capitalize on his advantage. As it turns out though, it was not Mr Toad who was the only threat, as Batman quickly became aware of the hunger sounds that were nearly as loud as any scream the dark knight had heard the frog-mutant unleash on an area with concussive force, and from the way Magpie was rubbing her belly, it became apparent that Magpie's condition was still getting worse.

"I'm so hungry, Batman. It's like everything I smell reminds me of food, and my mouth refuses to stop waiting, and the pain in stomach tenses up like a dog ready to chew through a rabbit it has set all its senses on. And right now, even you seem like a rather tasty little rabbit…"

With a feral grin, a copious amounts of drool running down her chin, and a demonic bellowing noise, Magpie quickly rushed in to attack Batman, mainly by what appeared to be an attempt to bite him, although the dark knight did not stay still long enough to find out, because he quickly jumped to the side, which put Margaret Sorrow on a direct intercept towards Mr Toad, who had just unleashed a sonic scream in an attempt to land another blow on Batman while his back was turned. Instead, Magpie was blasted backwards as she took the brunt of Mr Toad's attack, although she recovered quite well and soon after resumed engaging Batman in close quarters combat.

Magpie, an already dangerous foe with her use of poison-tipped talons, was extremely proficient with a chaotic fighting style that worked well for her on account of her inability to feel pain, so she wasn't fighting too differently than usually, although her blows were definitely stronger than normal, and she was definitely faster than he remembered her usually being. Even though he had gotten fairly adjusted to the chaotic style both Magpie and Lady Shiva displayed under the effects of whatever feral hunger consumed their rational thought, he hardly had a moment of rest since the entire night started, and it was starting to show. He was getting sloppy, and it was only because Magpie was so out her mind that she didn't register them and respond with an appropriate counterattack that he was able to avoid with minimal damage as a result, but fighting was taking too much out of him far too quick, so he needed to handle the matter through another approach.

Unfortunately, he was only able to land one more solid blow before he felt a blow like a steel bar hitting the back of his head, and his consciousness faded instantly, unaware of the struggling to stand Lady Shiva, with the protesting sounds of her stomach close to rivaling the sound of Magpie's belly, as well as the fact that she too was drooling excessively, with a steadily growing puddle of excess saliva collecting on the ground as she ferociously massaged her abdomen, and mirrored Magpie's earlier expression as she said, "Finally…Perhaps now I can finally get a bite to eat before my stomach convulses it's way out of my throat…"

* * *

Appearing behind the League of Assassin's commander was Professor Pyg, who wore a fairly pleased expression on his face as his gaze combed the scene before him, finally settling on the fallen form of his adversary.

"Terribly sorry for the inconvenience, Batman, but I absolutely require all three subjects before I can move on with the next phase of my plan. Rest assured though, that I guarantee I shan't keep them any longer than necessary, and I'll be sure to leave them all nice and wrapped up for your convenience later, although you might have to rummage a little to find all the pieces."

With that, Professor Pyg led both Shiva and Magpie away from the scene with relative ease, as though they were trained guard dogs, while Toad simply tied Batman up, if only to buy them a few minutes they could devote to Pyg's next "experiment."

What Katana did NOT expect to see when she was able to get up was the arrival of Lady Shiva, who looked as though she were hypnotized or brainwashed as she followed Professor Pyg's orders to the letter and without question.

With an amused expression on his face, Pyg had mentally recorded the severity of their reactions as the three woman had a synchronized reaction as their stomachs let out a burst of protesting noise, which they immediately attempted to quell with their arms and hands with no success, each one of them quite vocal about the phantom pains in their stomachs from all the hunger.

"Well I suppose I should enlighten you ladies in regards to your afflictions. You see, a rather unusual fellow, whom I had at first mistaken to be the Batman, gave me a rather interesting formula for a chemical I'm sure at least two of you are familiar with, called Calibosix, a rather remarkable, if slightly unstable, mutagenic toxin, easily capable of causing quite the epidemic in Gotham City if it ever went airborne. Unfortunately, it turns out that Batman has already prevented such an outbreak to occur, but the trace amounts of Calibosix were more than enough to work on a new mutagen, although thus far, it appears to have quite a limited success, seeing as you three lovely ladies are the only ones who've managed to be affected by it, and not exactly in the manner I had hoped. Still, once I thoroughly examine how your bodies have reacted and responded to the new mutagen, I can work on modifying the formula, and then every citizen in Gotham will know what it's like to go hungry, feeling the pain inside their ravenous stomachs so severe, that perhaps they might being to appreciate the bounty they've selfishly shoved down their gullets before they…permanently expire."

Once again, the room rang out with echoes coming from the three women's collective stomach, each one merely a warm-up to the orchestra of suffering Pyg hoped to compose, although he enjoyed seeing them attempt to sooth out the pains as much as they would with their hands, although they were far from successful, and listened in as they each cried out in hunger, desperate for something edible.

"But I apologize, you ladies must be absolutely miserable," Pyg said, with a false tone of compassion towards the three women. Unfortunately, you are quite valuable test subjects, and I require you to bear through this pain as I learn where my formula needs amending, but I am not a man without compassion, so I will spare one of you if the other two are incapacitated. So tell me ladies, which one of you is the most worthy of acquiring the antidote?"

Like a substitute for a ringside bell, the sounds of bellies gurgling in protest set the women off, each one holding their abdomen and relaying their hunger, all rational though completely gone as they each roared a single word: "Starving!"

Professor Pyg was hardly what one would call squeamish, although some of the things those women when fighting almost literally with tooth and nail were capable of even making him slightly uncomfortable, if only a little. Still, once he learned how to replicate the affect all across Gotham, the message this outbreak sends to the world would be a monumental first step towards much larger pursuits. Of course, he'd have to perfect the mutagen first, otherwise the only individuals affected by the current batch would tear each other apart and leave nothing left for him to research later. For now though, all he had to do was simply wait and watch as the women tried to violently tear each other apart, some with more success than others.

Katana, meanwhile, could only thank whatever lot she drew that she was not as bad off as Shiva and Magpie were, although she couldn't help but cry out occasionally from the stomach pain, even as she tried to squash it into complacency by patting it when the growling noises became truly overpowering.

It was still far from an easy task to fend off two, hyper aggressive, deadly attackers though, and the severity of their afflictions seemed to amplify the force behind their every blow. Luckily, most of their attention was focused on each other, and while she still kept herself involved in the fight, Katana was also noting the area around her, including Pyg and Toad, who were watching the fight between Magpie and Shiva with a great deal of focus: something she could take advantage of at the right moment. An Opera Theater, however, didn't have much lying around that she could use, and while the place was certainly full of many hazards resulting from years of abandonment, there was no major hazard that could be exploited, unless she counted the walkway above the stage.

Unlike a certain caped crusader, however, she did not carry multiple tiny projectiles, and even if she had her sword presently, it wouldn't be able to help her achieve the desired effect in causing the platform above Pyg and Toad to fall. Before she could come up with a viable solution, however, Tatsu was brought back into the fight by the combined efforts of Magpie and Shiva, who had appeared to have come to an unspoken agreement to take her out before trying to eliminate each other. To make matters worse, soon, the all-too familiar pains once again flared up as Tatsu's stomach continued protesting its hunger, with her reacting purely by reflex as she crossed her arms across her abdomen despite all previous attempts proving how futile the effort of massaging it was, in which she could only mutter to herself, "why does it always feel like every time my stomach rumbles, feel even hungrier than before? If it continues getting worse, I'll have to eat an entire restaurant out of every crumb of food for the next few months."

Batman, in the meantime, had finished cutting through the ropes binding him, and had already made his way to the large hall where the three women were fighting on stage for Pyg's amusement.

As if to finally signal the night turning out in his favor, Batman was able to discover the core component of Pyg's hunger-induing chemical, thanks to a device he had given Katana prior to tonight's bizarre chain of events occurring, which allowed him to track her location and allowed her a greater deal of autonomy in regards to investigating a location by herself, and as Pyg explained the nature of the affliction, he remained unaware that Katana has been able to bypass her pain long enough to record his every word.

While obtaining the cure Pyg had on hand would be the quickest solution to the problem, Batman was confident that he could quickly mix is own antidote, but that would take time he wasn't sure Katana would have, and he couldn't ignore the fact that both Magpie and Lady Shiva were currently worse off than she was.

He had readied a handful of Batarangs to take out Pyg and Toad, although once Shiva and Sorrow began focusing all their effort on Katana, he changed his target to the support cables keeping a set of lights above the stage suspended, and once his projectiles cut through the cable, Katana's two attackers were trapped beneath the massive weight, unable to do my in their current positions than thrash around with feral expressions carved onto their faces. In their present positions, Magpie and Shiva were barely able to rub their stomachs the next time the roar of their bellies shook across their bodies, pain clearly visible across their faces, further cemented by the desperate pleas, "No more, we can't go on without something to eat, PLEASE!" before the pain simply overtook them and unconsciousness spared them from suffering anymore, if only for a few hours.

Although Katana suffered similar pains, hers were still not as bad as the others, and quickly mobilized to aid Batman against Pyg and Toad after the worst of it came to pass. Thankfully, her appearance in the fight had not been anticipated by Pyg, and with a strong combination from both Batman and Katana, Pyg had apparently been knocked out cold, while Toad was not far behind after he attempted to get the jump on Katana, only to be punched aside by Batman.

Lucky for Tatsu, the vial containing the cure for Pyg's formula remained intact, although it was clear that the amount would only completely treat one person, and it may have been because she was used to his routine, but she knew Bruce would refuse to allow Shiva and Magpie to suffer any longer than they had to, so despite the pain, she held her tongue as she watched him split the formula into four, equal sized dosages, and then added a small amount of extra chemicals to three of then before administering them to everyone who needed it.

The pain was still present, but most of the edge had worn off, although Batman confirmed he would need to synthesize a full dosage of a cure with the remaining amount of liquid he had gotten from Pyg. And for the first time that night, the grumble in her stomach was mild, and easily soothed by a gentle massage across her belly, although she couldn't resist saying, "I don't care what Alfred makes tonight, but I am NOT drinking one of your typical blended dinners again. I'm almost willing to clean the entire manor out of food, even the rations."


End file.
